Ingrid Klimke was cooking dinner while we chatted on Saturday evening. No surprises there, the German star is a born multi-tasker, so juggling an interview and an evening meal is a breeze for this lady.

In the sport of Eventing she has five Olympic Games, four FEI World Equestrian Games™ (WEG) and 10 FEI European Championships under her belt. Her medal collection includes two Olympic team golds and one team silver, two WEG team golds and an individual bronze, and last summer’s double-gold in Luhmuehlen (GER) brought her European Championships tally to six golds along with a silver and a bronze.

Her prowess as a Dressage rider has been key to many of these successes, and just to prove the point she finished seventh in the FEI Dressage World Cup™ Final in ’s-Hertogenbosch (NED) in 2002. It’s a staggering record but far from complete. As we begin our chat she reminds me that she was selected for the German A squads in both Eventing and Dressage for the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, “with three horses in the two disciplines, so already a dream has come true! Now I’m very much hoping that they all stay healthy for next year!”, she says.

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